Since taking office in 2007, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins — a man with a reputation for freeing people from prison — has won more death sentences for killers than any other DA in Texas during that time.

Historically, the state’s largest county, Harris County, has filled death row the most frequently. But from 2007 to 2013, Dallas County sent 12 to death row while Harris County sent nine. Tarrant County was third with seven.

These numbers are a stark contrast to Watkins’ evolving stance on whether he supports the death penalty and his revelation in 2012 that his great-grandfather was executed by the state. Whatever personal ambivalence Watkins has had about what he frequently calls “the ultimate punishment,” he has sought death sentences repeatedly since being elected.

One of Watkins’ top prosecutors, Russell Wilson, won a death sentence in November against a man who killed a 16-year-old to prevent her from testifying that he raped her. He said the DA’s office does not track how its use of capital punishment compares to other counties.

Wilson said that Dallas County’s death sentences are the result of a “rarely seen type of homicidal violence” that “shocks the public’s conscience.” Collectively, the 12 who Watkins has sent to death row killed 20 people, many of them children.

Dallas County’s climb comes at a time when executions declined nationally 10 percent in 2013 over the previous year. In addition, new death sentences also dropped, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that opposes capital punishment and tracks data about its use.

Texas as a whole marked the sixth year in a row with fewer than 10 death sentences — down from 48 in 1999.

Factors

Harris County’s numbers plummeted years ago when a new district attorney stopped asking for death sentences so frequently. But why is Dallas County sentencing so many killers to death?

“It’s not so much that Dallas is spiking, it’s that Harris County and others are using it less in comparison,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the center. “Dallas had three and it leads the state. That didn’t use to be the case.”

Exonerations and the reasons for wrongful convictions, changing ideas about what merits seeking the death penalty and the option of life without parole could all be contributors to the drop in death penalty cases in some areas, Dieter believes. But he said that doesn’t mean those haven’t impacted Dallas County’s decision making. They likely are a consideration.

Watkins’ history — including being the first black elected district attorney in Texas — could also be a factor, Dieter said. Dallas County is home to dozens of exonerations and Watkins has attracted national attention for freeing the innocent from prison.

“I think a district attorney like Craig Watkins is in more of a position where he has to prove that he will use the death penalty than someone who has a long history of using it,” Dieter said. “As an African-American who is willing to use the death penalty, he is being watched … He has to show he is not ignoring the death penalty.”

But Wilson said that neither Watkins’ race, individual opinion opposing the death penalty nor the DA’s personal connection through his great-grandfather, who was executed in the 1930s, have any bearing on Watkins’ decisions to pursue death sentences.

“He’s going to be watched whether he seeks death or not,” Wilson said. “You’re going to have people who look at the exonerations and say we’re a bunch of hug-a-thugs. They are going to look at the death cases and say, ‘So what?’”

Elisabeth Semel, director of the University of California at Berkeley law school’s Death Penalty Clinic, said Dallas County’s “disproportionate pursuit of death sentences really stands out against this overall decline” nationally. Semel noted that only one of the defendants sentenced to death under Watkins was white. Three were Hispanic. Eight were black.

“While the number of defendants of color — particularly black men — sentenced to death nationally and in Texas has historically been disproportionate, these numbers are particularly stark,” said Semel. “It seems difficult to square these numbers against the Dallas County district attorney’s support for a Racial Justice Act.”

Wilson, who is black, said race is irrelevant when the DA’s office decides to seek a death sentence.

“Race doesn’t play any role. It’s the actions,” he said. “It’s what they have done conduct-wise.”

Although a committee of prosecutors examines each case where the state might seek death, Wilson said there are no set qualifications for prosecutors to seek death.

Dallas defense attorney Juan Sanchez said he often can’t find the reasoning behind why prosecutors seek death in some cases and not others. He represented Juan Lizcano, who was sent to death row in 2007 for killing Dallas police Officer Brian Jackson, and has two death cases set for trial in 2014.

“I’ve seen some horrible cases where they don’t seek death. I’ve seen some that are not as horrible and they do seek death,” said Sanchez. “One of the criteria they probably have is, ‘Can we win it?’”

Nature of crimes

Another factor in Dallas County’s numbers could be that the crimes are “so compelling that they would have sought the death penalty in a lot of places” Dieter said.

Two victims since Watkins took office were Dallas police officers.

The youngest victim, Diana Medina, was 8 months and was shot to death with her 3-year old brother by their father after their mother left him. Hector Medina was sent to death row in 2008. The oldest was 76-year-old Nancy Harris. Matthew Johnson was sentenced to death in November for killing the convenience store clerk by setting her on fire at a Garland gas station.

Other victims included 3- and 5-year-old boys drowned by their father to get back at their mother and the cold case of a Southern Methodist University student who was raped and stabbed to death by a stranger in 1984.

Theresa Butler, the mother of Matthew Butler, who was killed outside his Garland Christian music recording studio in 2009 along with friend Steve Swan, said that prosecutors are rightly seeking the death penalty in horrific crimes. But sometimes they don’t ask for death when they should, she said.

One of Butler’s killers was sentenced to death in 2011. Prosecutors did not seek death for the other killer and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“If you do an especially heinous crime and there’s plenty of evidence and, on top of it, you confess, then, you should get the death penalty,” said Butler, who believes both killers deserved death sentences. “Those people killed without regard.”

Follow Jennifer Emily on Twitter at @dallascourts.

AT A GLANCE: Sentenced to death

These Dallas County inmates were sent to death row during the tenure of District Attorney Craig Watkins. Their cases are on appeal and none have execution dates.

Juan Lizcano was sent to death row in 2007 for shooting and killing Dallas police Officer Brian Jackson in 2005 when officers responded to a domestic violence call by Lizcano’s former girlfriend.

Wesley Ruiz was sent to death row in 2008 for the shooting death of Dallas police Officer Mark Nix the previous year. Ruiz shot and killed Nix when the officer walked up to Ruiz’s vehicle after a chase.

Hector Medina was sent to death row in 2008 for the 2007 murders of his two children, Javier, 3, and Diana, 8 months, after their mother left him. He shot each child twice.

Robert Sparks was sent to death row in 2008 for the 2007 fatal stabbings of his wife, Char Agnew, and his stepsons, Harold Sublet Jr., 9, and Raeqwon Agnew, 10. He later told police that he raped his two stepdaughters, ages 12 and 14, on the same night but left them alive so that they would suffer.

James Broadnax was sentenced to death in 2009 for the murder of Steve Swan. He also confessed to killing Matthew Butler as the two left Butler’s Garland Christian music recording studio in June 2008.

Gary Green was sent to death row in 2010 for fatally stabbing his wife, Loretta Armstrong, and drowning her 6-year-old daughter, Jazzmen, in 2009. He also stabbed his two stepsons but they lived.

Donald Bess was sent to death row in 2010 for the 1984 rape and murder of Southern Methodist University student Angie Samota. She was stabbed 18 times. The case was cold for decades until police matched DNA from the crime to Bess.

Roderick Harris was sent to death row in 2012 for shooting and killing brothers Alfredo and Carlos Gallardo during a robbery at their home.

Tyrone Cade was sentenced to death in 2012 for the 2011 murders of 37-year-old Mischell Fuller and her daughter, 18-year-old Desaree Hoskins.

Naim Muhammad was sent to death row in 2013 for drowning his two sons, 3-year-old Elijah and 5-year-old Naim, in 2011 to get back at their mother.

Matthew Johnson was sent to death row in 2013 for the 2012 slaying of 76-year-old Nancy Harris. Johnson set Harris on fire while robbing the convenience store where she worked.

Franklin Davis was sent to death row in 2013 for the 2012 slaying of 16-year-old Shania Gray. Davis killed her to keep her from testifying that he raped her when she was baby-sitting his children.